And Beyond
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Four months after Ariel Dodd's birth, Walter and Paige are getting married. Oneshot. Serendipity-verse.


**So this is set four months after the end of Serendipity. I know I promised it like...over two weeks ago? Sorry. If you keep up with my life at all you know I've been having a helluva rough time. But I needed to get this out because within the next month I have the "three years later" Christmas fic to post, and I really wanted this to come first. It could be read on its own if you really just want to read a Waige wedding, but if you didn't read Serendipity and need to catch up, here's 130,000 + words condensed into a recap...**

 **Serendipity was initially outlined in December 2015 and published between January and October 2016, so while the fic is mostly canon compliant to the end of S2, I ignored Happy's marriage and the fic was completed before season three began. In Serendipity, Waige began in Tahoe. Just under three years after that, Paige agreed to be a surrogate for Sylvester when she found out Megan froze her eggs. Walter and Paige have been together for almost four years and have been engaged for about eight months. Linda was married, got divorced, has struggled with depression, and is now dating Ray. Paige has some negative effects of the radiation at Chernobyl. After months of tension between him and Ralph, Drew agreed to relinquish his parental rights so Walter could adopt him. Ralph and Owen are dating, Happy and Toby adopted a gender fluid pre – teen named Collette, Paige gave birth to Sly and Megan's daughter in the garage ten days before her scheduled c – section (and that's what you missed on Glee!)**

* * *

"Look, I know that this isn't what you're used to, but it's going to be your reality for the next two nights, so you might as well just try and see the good in it."

"Owen," Ralph said, "she's five months old. She doesn't understand that logic."

"You were the one who told me that I shouldn't use baby talk." Owen frowned down at Ariel, who wasn't crying, but definitely wasn't pleased.

"You shouldn't make unintelligible noises," Ralph said. "That doesn't mean you should reason with her like she's our age."

"So how do I talk to her?" Owen bit his lip. "I haven't spent that much time with her, you know. I want to be good with her like you and Collette are."

None of them could deny that the older newest member of the family was one of the best with the youngest. But Team Scorpion would be down two members for the next month, while his parents were on their honeymoon, and as Collette was joining a long course swim team over the summer that would take up a considerable amount of their time, Owen was Sylvester's current best bet for reliable babysitting.

Ralph slid his hand into Owen's, resting his chin on the older boy's shoulder. "You _are_ good with her." They stood in silence for a moment, and then Ralph smirked. "Though she may need Collette to convince her that this crib is a good idea."

"We've been needing Collette for a lot of things lately."

The door opened to reveal the twelve year old, who couldn't have had better timing had they been cued. "Ralph, Owen, you're fine. I managed to convince both Walter and Paige that it was fine for you two to share a bed since both me and the little one will be in here as well."

"Did you tell them it was the most efficient arrangement given we're the kids?"

"No." Collette shook their head. "I told your mom that she was being ridiculously overbearing because you're her son and she's getting married tomorrow so naturally she's going to be stressed and overthink things and she should chill out on this."

Ralph shook his head at their bluntness. Collette may be adopted, but they were definitely Happy and Toby's child.

"What's Little Bit fussing about?" They asked, peering into the crib. "Do we not like the strange bed, Ariel? Do we wish we were back home with Daddy? Aw. It's okay. I promise. We're just here for tonight and tomorrow and then we'll be all back home! And Daddy will come see you in a couple minutes. Okay? Okay."

Ariel's face was still slightly scrunched, but she relaxed.

"That," Ralph said to Owen. "That's how you talk to her."

"Thanks for that, genius."

"So catch me up," Collette said. "What time do we have to be down there tomorrow?"

"Weren't you _just with_ my mother?"

"Wasn't I doing you a favor?"

Ralph cleared his throat. "Sorry. We have to be there by one thirty. Actual wedding at two. Then we're going to go straight to the reception, pretty much."

"I still don't understand why they picked a place that not one of us has been to before," Collette said, sitting down cross legged on their bed.

"They wanted to let this be a completely new memory." Ralph suspected his mother was also worried about Walter getting overwhelmed if too many major events happened in one place, especially one that they frequented. "Which I think is cool."

"Plus it was one of the only places they could get on short notice," Owen remarked.

"It's not like they didn't have other options," Ralph pointed out. "Happy and Toby got married on the roof."

"True. And it is their wedding, so they do get to make all the decisions."

"Well," Ralph said with a smirk, "they didn't really have a choice about who was officiating."

* * *

"What draft are you even _on_ , buddy?"

"Ray, I'm really getting tired of your pestering." Walter crumpled up his note card and threw it at the garbage can next to the desk. He missed, the thin cardboard bumping against the chair. Linda reached down and retrieved it. "Do not read that!"

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Relax, I'm just throwing it out."

"Seriously though, man," Ray said. "Haven't you written your vows, like, a zillion times?"

"That's quite an exaggeration," Walter said. "I'm about to start my eleventh draft."

"That's what I mean," Ray said. "Vows don't have to be so complicated. Just say how much you love her, and that you're gonna keep loving her every day for the rest of your lives. You can find these things on the internet. There's nothing wrong with taking your vows from the internet."

"No," Walter said, "they have to be perfect. Ugh," he said, when his pen merely made an indentation in the card. Pen's out of ink."

"You spent an entire pen on these vows?" Linda raised her eyebrows again. "Walter, your marriage isn't going to crumble because you used your seventh draft."

"Actually, I saw the seventh draft," Ray said. "It was pretty bad."

Walter frowned. "It is very difficult for me to focus on this with you two yakking."

"So you can code at top speed with foreign factions seconds away from disabling our military no problem, but Linda and I are hurting your concentration?"

"They have to be _exactly right_."

"Walter." Linda spun the chair to face him and scooted across the room. She reached out and grabbed his hands. "They _are_ going to be exactly right."

"You don't know that."

"Yes. I do."

He sighed nervously, standing up. "I need to get another pen."

* * *

The elevator opened, and Walter moved to step off of it, realizing it was the wrong floor only when he almost bumped right into Paige as she attempted to get on. "Oh." He smiled. "Hey."

"Oops," she said with a quiet chuckle as they both stepped back and allowed the elevator to close, leaving them in the hallway and moving down to the lobby with no one on it. "We weren't supposed to see each other tonight."

"There is no tradition that says we can't see each other the day before," Walter said. "There's that business about not spending the night before in the same room and not seeing you in your dress ahead of time but nothing says that I can't do this." He tipped his head down and kissed her, his fingers linking on her lower back. "You feel okay today?"

"No tingling in the legs," she said. "Nothing at all. So, what are you guys doing tonight?" She slid her arms around his neck, their lips still less than an inch apart.

"Well, Ray and Linda would like to go down to the arcade," Walter said. "Sly is already down there since the kids are with Ariel and I strongly suspect Happy and Toby are steaming up their suite. But Ray and Linda won't go to the games without me."

"Why _don't_ you go? That sounds fun. You guys always have a great time beating the supposedly impossible games."

He shook his head, their noses lightly brushing as he did so. "I have to write my vows."

"I thought you wrote them a month ago."

"I did. But then I didn't like them, so I wrote them again. And again. Don't laugh at me," he said when she tipped her head back and chuckled. "I like them when I write them. Then I look at them the next day and...and they're not right."

"I finished mine last week."

"Well, look who's the overachiever now," he said with a smile.

"I'm sure any version you've come up with will be lovely," she said. "I look forward to hearing them. And marrying you, of course."

"Well that's good," he said, placing a brief kiss on her nose then pulling back slightly to look at her, his voice dropping low. "Because I adore you."

Her face tinged pink. He loved that, four years into their relationship, he could still make her blush. "I know whatever you say tomorrow," She whispered, "it'll be exactly right."

"Well," he said affectionately, "you've always had this kind of faith in me that I didn't necessarily have in myself."

She kissed him again, and they stood there, almost completely still, eyes closed, savoring the moment together. When their lips separated, she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

Walter waited nervously. His brain was telling him that the unpleasant anxious feelings that were overwhelming him at the present moment were completely unjustified. He loved Paige. She loved him. They'd been together almost four years to the day.

People said that overtime, a relationship would become familiar. That there'd no longer be surprises. The passion would die down and would be replaced by a sense of comfort, of calm. They weren't entirely wrong. Paige was Walter's safe space, a place he would come to feel peaceful and protected, but she could still light him up like a single spark could ignite a wheat field in a drought. But the spark that unfailingly caught between them every time they smiled or touched was never destructive. That, Walter figured, was why they worked so well.

 _Wait until you see her_ , Ralph had said when he'd come from his mother's dressing room. His words sent an entirely pleasant shiver down Walter's spine. He knew what she looked like, he had her memorized, in a dress, in a mini skirt and button up, in jeans and a sweater, in a swimsuit, in army fatigues, maternity clothes, in nothing at all. But he'd never seen her in a wedding dress – at least, not outside of his dreams.

He looked around. The setting wasn't completely unfamiliar to him, because he had scouted it out the day before, with Linda, when they'd arrived. He liked Paige's idea of not choosing an already significant location for them to formally become each other's other half, but of finding a new place, a nice place, a neutral place, and turning it into one of the most important sites in their lives.

If they'd gotten married in a place that was already the setting of previous significant moments in their relationship, Walter thought, it might have overwhelmed him anyway.

"Alrighty roo," Ray said, appearing as if from nowhere – behind the arch way that Happy had set up that morning – and grinning. "I'm texting Linda right now, to clear their room. It's go time, Wally. You ready to get married?"

Walter cleared his throat, giving a nod. Ray made a sweeping gesture toward their makeshift altar, where their friends already stood.

"Seems all we're waiting for is..." Toby was saying, just loudly enough for Walter to hear and trailing off for dramatic effect.

"The groom," Cabe said, raising his eyebrows. "Say, did we forget to bring Walter to his own wedding?"

"I think he was fixing his tie for the millionth time," Ralph said, glancing pointedly over at Walter and Ray. "Dad!"

They made their way over the group. "I'm sorry." Walter cleared his throat again. "I was...do I look okay?"

"You look great, kid," Cabe said. "And hey. Congratulations. You have no idea how proud I am of you. You have a wonderful bride."

"She looks really pretty today," Ralph said to Cabe. "I went to their room a couple minutes ago to make sure we were all ready. For real, though," he said, his voice growing quiet as he looked at Walter. "Wait until you see her."

"Where is she coming from?" Walter asked, almost wishing his son would stop saying that because his anticipation was making him more nervous. "Which way do I face?"

"Minimalist décor doesn't seem like such a nice idea now, does it?" Toby asked, looking slightly terrified at the warning look Cabe shot him.

"Everything is ready," Collette said, walking up with Owen. "Little Bit is with Sylvester and she's been quiet all morning."

"Thanks, kid," Happy said, slinging an arm around their waist and kissing their cheek.

Cabe grinned. "I think it's time for a wedding."

* * *

Just out of sight of where the ceremony would take place, Paige turned her bouquet over in her hands. "I can't believe I'm getting married."

"I can't believe people always say that," Linda said with a smirk.

"No, I mean...we've been together for so long. I never...I hadn't been wondering, or dropping hints, I was so happy, we were so happy, we could have just kept on as we were and nothing would have changed but...but we are doing this. And I'm just..."

"You're happy," Linda said, stepping close and wrapping her arms around Paige in a side hug. "That I do get."

Paige let out another deep breath. "Alright. Let's go get me wifed."

Her eyes lit up as the altar came into view. The ceremony was small, and the intimate gathering of everyone she cared about was exactly what she wanted. Sly. Ariel asleep on his chest. Owen, Cabe, Happy, Toby, Collette. Linda darted over to stand next to Sylvester.

Then there was Walter. She could see the absolute adoration brimming from his eyes even with the short distance that separated them, and she almost went weak in the knees for reasons completely unrelated to the radiation.

This wasn't a traditional ceremony. She didn't have anyone to give her away. There were no bridesmaids, no groomsman. Everyone in attendance was important enough to them to have those honors anyway. But nothing about her and Walter's relationship was traditional – except for the fact that they loved each other and today they were following in the footsteps of millions who had come before and putting their love to paper.

"Hey, you," she said quietly as she reached him. Her dress was strapless, simple, and went all the way down to her feet. She watched as his eyes ran up and down before returning to meet hers.

"You look stunning," he said, his favorite compliment.

"If we're done with the chatter," Ray said, a glint in his eyes, "we have a marriage to commence."

"Shut up, Ray," Walter said.

"You want me to walk away? Because I can walk away. And that means no marriage for _you_!" Ray cleared his throat. "Alright, everyone. We all know why we're gathered here today. And what I said a minute ago, it was actually wrong. Because this is just a ceremony. You don't need a ceremony to have a marriage. For a marriage, you need hard work. Devotion. Commitment. Willingness to learn and change and grow. And love, that's also pretty important. Walter and Paige here, they already have all that. This is already a marriage and it's been a marriage for a long time. But today, today we're celebrating that.

"Walter," Paige said, "A lot of little girls think about their wedding. We put the pillowcases on our heads and pretend they're veils, or we...or we ask to see our mother's wedding dress and we dream of what ours might look like. I was one of those girls. I was planning my wedding from the time I was in the second grade. I imagined this white dress. I imagined being surrounded by family and I imagined having the love of my life standing in front of me, smiling at me like you are right now. I thought I had considered everything. But..." she shook her head slowly, as if in wonder. "Never had I imagined that I could _possibly_ be this happy. There's little that I can say that you haven't already heard a thousand times over, and there's little I can give you that I haven't already freely given, but I look forward to spending the rest of my life learning new things to say, and new ways to share myself with you. And I look forward to the new things we will discover together. I'm marrying you with the least amount of hesitation or doubt that I have ever had. About anything."

"That was real pretty, Mom," Ralph whispered as he handed her the ring. Collette elbowed him.

Paige slowly slid the ring onto Walter's finger. "I take you as you are."

It was Walter's turn. His hand touched his pocket where his note card was, then he stopped. "You know," he said quietly, "I don't like my vows."

"Oh for crying out..." Ray cleared his throat and quieted.

"Four years ago," Walter said loudly, "when I was driving to Tahoe, I wasn't sure what to say to you. Toby asked me if I could just speak from my heart. And I didn't really know how to do that, but I think I'd like to try, now." He cleared his throat. "Paige. I never imagined my wedding. I saw all these people...kissing in public, walking hand in hand, committing their lives to each other, and I always thought I was better than them. Somehow. Then you came into my life and changed...everything. I never thought my world could revolve around someone the way it does you and Ralph."

He took a pause, and the silence was broken by a wail from Ariel. "Oh come on," Ray said, looking at the infant. "It's not that bad. You're acting like he's going with his seventh draft. Now _that_ would be something to scream about."

Walter cleared his throat. "A – _hem_." He smiled at Paige. "I didn't used to think I had many feelings. But it turns out that I do. I have this...this intense incredible capability for feeling everything normal people do. I just didn't have the key to unlock it, or the tools to control it. Somehow I learned. You had a lot to do with that. And I don't believe in fate. So when I say that I don't know what I did to have to come into my life, I'm not saying that you were some sort of reward from a higher power. I just know that little, seemingly inconsequential decisions that people make change their lives in ways they never know, and whatever I said or did that ultimately led to me being in that diner six years ago...well, I'm glad. Because back then, I wouldn't have ever imagined that I'd be saying this, but...I too, am marrying you with the least amount of fear or doubt that I ever had." He smiled. "I take you. As you are."

Ralph handed him her ring, and Paige, blinking back tears, held her hand out as he eased the band on. "I told you," she whispered. _I told you whatever you said would be exactly right._

"Walter," Ray said. "Do you take Paige to be your wife? To love, and protect, and cherish, through the end of your lives and beyond?"

"I don't know that there is a beyond," Walter said. "But for the sake of covering all my bases, yes." He smiled at her. "I do."

Paige rolled her eyes, but she saw him notice the smirk on her face and knew that he knew she wans't really annoyed.

"And Paige," Ray said. "Do you take Walter to be your husband? To love, and protect, and cherish, through the end of your lives and beyond?"

"I do," she said, feeling him squeeze her hands.

Ray glanced over at their friends and bounced slightly in place. "This is wicked cool."

Paige grinned as Walter laughed and shook his head.

"Alright," Ray said, turning back to them. "I happily, by the powers vested in me by the angry little man outside the now Megan Dodd Pediatric Ward in late 2015, pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss."

Paige could feel the color spring to her cheeks as Walter stepped closer, sliding his arms around her and pulling her close. "I love you," he said in a low voice, their noses touching.

"I love you," she echoed, closing her eyes and tipping her head slightly, capturing his lips with her own.

* * *

 **Hope all my wonderful Serendipity readers enjoyed this little update. I won't be writing in this verse forever (I strongly feel that stories need to end where they end) but I really wanted to write this, and then there will be the Christmas epilogue coming, set when Ariel is three. Please review if you have something to say, and I hope you guys have a lovely holiday season.**


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